It’s always amazing how quickly time passes when I look back, seems like I was just having babies.  Beautiful Ella was born one year ago today, early in the morning.  She was about one month early but her mom was on bed rest for the previous month, so she could have been much earlier.  They live about 2 1/2 hours south of me so I don’t get to see her as often as I would like but mom and dad are very good about visiting regularly.

I love being a grandmother much more than I ever thought possible.  She is truly the apple of my eye and I enjoy watching her grow so much.  I know any grandmothers out there reading this understand exactly what I’m saying.  I’m looking forward to her next visit.

Ella contemplating her cake

She was very subdued with the cake and didn’t make much of a mess.  I think she preferred the feel of it rather than the taste.  Plus I think she was getting tired, she had that “deer in the headlights” look.

Greg and Ella opening her quilt

She didn’t enjoy opening gifts very much but she did enjoy playing with the tissue paper.  Her dad was excited about the quilt and the fact that it was designed for her to carry around.  I hope that she drags it around with her to the point of destruction.

I will be making her mom a quilt sometime in the not too distant future, one with butterflies.  I’m still collecting fabrics, much easier to find than bee fabrics.  Ella will get another little quilt to go with her mom’s when the time comes.

Ella Bella, Belle of the Ball, happy First Birthday beautiful girl.  It’s only the beginning of a beautiful life!!  I love you.

Thanks for stopping by…

I got to spend yesterday afternoon with both of my children and beautiful Ella.  We were attending an open house to celebrate my nephew’s recent wedding.  It was good to see everyone together and reconnect with old friends that I haven’t seen in many years.  There was lots of wonderful and tasty snacks, along with a light meal of salad, lasagna, meatballs and a kind of seafood sauce over pasta.  The weather was perfect with enough of a breeze to keep the black flies away.

yummy yogurt

Thanks for stopping by…

I love decorating for the holidays; all the holidays.  For some of them, I have tons of odds and ends to put out while others have only one or two.  Easter is one of the celebrations for which I have plenty of decorations.  They range from rabbits and eggs to baskets, to chicks and candy dishes.  Of course, I can’t have candy dishes out without any candy.  That spells T R O U B L E.  I  can’t have candy out without eating a piece or two (or three, or four, you get the picture) every time I walk by.  It doesn’t matter how far out of the way I have to walk in order to “walk by” the candy dish.  It could be hanging from the ceiling and I would find a way to be near it as I pass through the house.

There is one Easter decoration that is my favorite.  It is my Jim Shore “Gathering Joy” basket.  Wendy gave it to me a couple of years ago when they took a trip to Texas and we were the dogsitters.

"Gathering Joy" Easter basket

This is an absolutely lovely basket with “The Cottontails” perched on top of a flower garland and five eggs decorated with quilt motifs.

Bunny and Peter Rabbit aka "The Cottontails"

Aren’t they just the cutest couple!

Basket detail

Five fabulous eggs

It’s my favorite not only because its beautiful but because it came from my beautiful, thoughtful daughter.

This week’s Doodle was paisley. I haven’t ever doodled a paisley but it was fun.  I liked the way it flowed off my pencil and I think I’ll do more of them.

Doodle Day...Paisley

I’m behind on Today’s Title is…I tried “bubbles” tonight but they were all blurry.  GRRR  That was last week’s title.  This week’s title is “slice of reality” for which I have an idea, I just have to get my camera outside when the liquid sunshine stops falling and I’m not at work.

We are leaving Thursday for a road trip to TN.  It is touted as being very retirement tax friendly, I have never been there and we want to scout out the area.  *fingers crossed* for good weather conducive to being outside.

oooh, last by not least…Greg called last night and told me that Ella has started pulling herself up.  Exciting!

Thanks for stopping by…

Yesterday Bill and I drove to MA to visit with Ella and her parents.   Her dad (and my son) Greg offered to keep her home from daycare for the day.  We arrived around noon and were able to spend the afternoon “babysitting” while Greg got some work done from home.

We fed her lunch and found they she loves vegetables.  They buy frozen veggies then heat some up in the microwave.  She enjoys feeding them to herself as finger foods.

feeding myself veggies

We read some new books that were delivered by Amazon.  We took movies of her new crawling skills as well as sitting from crawling.  We played with toys, fed her a bottle (which she absolutely inhaled) changed a really disgusting diaper (don’t miss that at all, they had given her asparagus the evening before…P  U!) and put her down for a nap.

Vanessa arrived home from work about 4 while Ella was napping and the three of us were chillin downstairs.  Bill and Greg were reading and I was kind of napping.  After Ella woke up, G & V went for a driveby to look at a potential house to purchase.

Greg prepared a new fish and mushroom entre for dinner which was very good and was served with quinoa, a grain cultivated in Chili and Peru.

We left about 7 while V was nursing Ella to put her to bed.  We had both driven down and left my car on Rt 1 so that Bill didn’t have to drive back from ME for work today.  I headed home from there and he drove back to the firehouse.

I’m still dealing with conjunctivitis, 2 weeks now.  Went back to the Dr. on Wednesday and got another prescription for eyedrops.  She advised me not to wear makeup (ARGH!) for 5 days and buy everything new.  Great…it is going to be hard to keep my “no discretionary spending” pledge for the month.   I have to admit, I can’t go out and about without makeup; however, I’m home today and tom and I will be makeup free.

2 1/2" black and white strips

I finished cutting the black and white fabrics into 2 1/2″ strips for the improv border that I’m going to make for Ella’s FM quilt.  My plan is to get started on that today, right after I pack up my good china to move to Bill’s shed.  Then I can get rid of the piece-of-junk hutch that sits on the wall opposite the dining room table and that will open up the room and make it look more spacious…appealing to potential buyers.  *finger crossed* I hope.

Happy Spring everyone; thanks for stopping by…

According to the online dictionary, there isn’t any such thing.  It does define “blog” as on online journal but that’s the extent of it.  However, just like the other blogs, I’m having an anniversary of my online journal.  In other words, I’m having a BLOGIVERSARY!

Unlike the other blogs, I’m not having any big giveaway.  First of all, I don’t think there are very many people that actually read my blog.  Secondly, I don’t have anything extra special that I think anyone would want.  So, it’s just my own little party.

I can hardly believe that I have been writing this little blog for a year now.  Well, technically, a year yesterday.  No, not really, I began this journey on February 29, 2008.   That’s when I had more than a year left to work before I retired.  As of today, there are 199 days left.  Of course, now that the economy has gone down the toilet and real estate is languishing on the market, I may not be able to retire in September.  If I don’t get my Maine condo sold, I will not be able to stop getting a nice, regular paycheck.  So, if you are reading this, I could use a little prayer or positive energy or whatever else you have up your sleeve to get my condo sold.

A year ago my granddaughter had not yet been born.  I had no idea that I would love this little girl so much.  She lives in MA so I don’t get to see her as much as I would like but her dad is pretty good about sharing photos and videos on YouTube.  She was born May 24 and is now 9 months old.  She has the biggest, bluest eyes; her name is Ella.

In addition to Ella, here are a few other items of interest that have taken place during the past year…

I bought myself a new Janome MC6600P machine.  It has a larger throat space for quilting and I have been able to do more advanced free-motion quilting.  I wouldn’t consider myself a great free-motion quilter yet but I’m getting more adventurous.

I visited Williamsburg and VA for the very first time.

I made my first “inchies” for a swap on MQResource.

I entered two quilts in the Maine Quilt Show and received 2 red ribbons.

I was a “celebrity” in the local Let’s Dance With the Stars competition/fund raiser.  I dressed as Marilyn Monroe and my partner, Peter and I danced to “I Wanna Be Loved By You”, sung by Marilyn Monroe.  We came in fourth place but we had a great time.

I have a new sewing room at Bills.

The first African/American president was elected.

Bill and I traveled to Bar Harbor a couple of times, spent time at the beach, went bike riding, worked in the gardens and all the regular things we enjoy doing, along with shoveling snow and complaining about the winter weather, which we don’t enjoy.  I did some sewing and finished a few projects but still don’t get to spend as much time at the machine as I would really like.  All in all I don’t think my life has changed that much over the past year (which is a good thing, really) but it’s a new blog year so we’ll see what there is to report this time next year.  (Hopefully I’ll be writing from warm, sunny FL.)

On a totally different note, Bill and I went to Cambridge last night for the Cambridge Firefighter’s Ball.  It was the 121st time the ball was held to commemorate firefighters who had served 25 years, those who had retired during the past year and remember those who had passed away.  Bill received a 25 year pin along with a beautiful plaque.  It was sparsely attended, compared to other years, and there is talk that this may be the last one.  I think that would be really sad.

Bill receiving 25 year pin and plaque

All dressed up and lookin' good

The venue was very nice and the food was exceptionally good.  The music was acceptable, although it all sounded the same by the end of the night, lots of heavy bass and there were only 4 “slow” songs during the course of the evening.  We left the party about 11:00 but stayed overnight and drove home this morning so that I could get to work by 5:00.

More snow tonight…10″-14″ with the peak of the storm around 8 in the morning.  I have two appointments scheduled in Portland tomorrow but it looks like they will be rescheduled.  It will be a good day to stay home and clean closets and SEW.

I always feel better when I have a chance to soak up some sun.  Today I had the opportunity to take a chair outside into the driveway and sit in the sun for a little while.  I put on my iPod,  settled in with a nice Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and just took in the sun.  The computer says it is 46*,  pretty nice for February and especially welcome after so much really cold weather.  The sun is melting the snow and ice and I listened to the drip, drip, drip of water off the roof.  Every once in a while the wind would shift and I would get those drips right in the face, but it didn’t matter one bit.  It was heaven.

On Friday,  Bill and I went to Malden, MA where we met with the tax accountant.  It’s a long drive to have the taxes done but Bill has been using the same guy for many years and he is quite savvy about deductions for firefighters,  so it’s worth the extra time to get some extra money.    From there we drove to Norwood, MA where we spent the night.  The TomTom said it was a 30 minute drive;  however, it was 6 PM when we left so we hit lots of Friday night traffic through Boston and Cambridge.  It took nearly 1 1/2 hours and I find that kind of traffic very anxiety provoking.  I was really glad to arrive at the Courtyard Marriott.After we checked in we drove a short distance to The Outback for dinner.  The reason for staying overnight rather than coming home was to visit with Ella and her mom and dad on Saturday.  It seemed to make sense to stay 20 minutes from them rather than driving 2 hours home on Friday and another 2 hours back the next day.

We arrived at Ella’s around 11:30.  She is recovering nicely from her broken leg but still isn’t allowed to stand on it.  She is trying to crawl but hasn’t quite figured it out.  She gets up on her hands and toes, then pushes off with her toes and inches forward.  She is really good at swiveling around on her tummy to go another direction.

Greg made a great potatoe soup for lunch, along with a fresh garlic bread.  I was thinking italian kind of garlic bread but it was bread made with pieces of cooked garlic incorporated into the dough.  They were both very good.

We headed home around 3PM in order to get home and give Bill a little time to relax before driving back to Cambridge for work today.

Ella and Papa Bill

Okay, I’ll start with the good.  Ella, my 8 month old granddaughter will be fine.

The bad news…one of the daycare workers fell while holding Ella and Ella’s femur was broken (that’s the big bone in the thigh).

Now, the ugly…the woman that was holding her never reported it or told anyone that it had happened.  Greg and Vanessa knew that Ella was out of sorts but thought it was gas or reflux or she was cutting teeth or maybe another ear infection.  After two days (TWO DAYS!) they were able to narrow the problem down to the fact that she would not put any weight on her leg.  Since she isn’t walking and has just started to figure out crawling, there was no obvious indication of the problem.

They called the doctor, took her to the ER and after she was x-rayed they were advised about the diagnosis.  Of course, they were appalled and had No Idea how it had happened.  As you can imagine, the injury required that Protective Services be called.  Ella was transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital by ambulance where the three of them sat in the ER from 10:00 AM until after 8:30 PM before she was admitted and they were moved to a room.

During that time, Ella had 22 additional x-rays, including a cat scan, to determine whether or not there were any other injuries.  Thankfully, everything was negative.  They were not informed regarding what was happening and thought after Ella’s leg was splinted they would take her home.  After many hours they were advised that Ella was not allowed to leave the hospital and they were certainly not leaving without her.  They were not allowed to be alone with Ella and were questioned, interviewed, interrogated and literally put through hell for the next 48 hours.

They returned home on Monday when they finally had an opportunity to talk with the daycare personnel.  Originally, the woman responsible for the injury didn’t recall anything but after “she thought about it” she “remembered” falling.

The issue is not whether she fell.  We all understand that no matter how hard you try, accidents will and do happen.  The issue is that this woman did not report the incident or tell anyone, either at the daycare or Ella’s parents!  Ella suffered needlessly for two days and Greg and his wife suffered emotional trauma for two days because they had no idea how the injury occurred.  They were treated as possibly abusive parents and placed into a system that will, most likely, have their names on file forever, because one individual was neglectful in carrying out her responsibilities.

Luckily, Ella will heal completely and be fine and won’t remember any of the incident.  She will only know about it from stories that she will hear as she grows older.  However, her mom and dad will remember it forever.

I have already been out to shovel twice today and it is only 11:30.  I knew we were expecting sleet and freezing rain and I figured I would rather shovel light snow a couple of times rather than heavy, wet snow once.

I noticed that when I posted the photos of the butterflies, they weren’t “clickable”.  I remembered that Randi had a post on her blog about how to correct this problem so I got the info from her and I’m going to give it a try.

This is my beautiful granddaughter, Ella on her first Christmas.  She is 7 months old already.   Some of us call her Beautiful Ella Bella, bell of the ball.  The photo was taken by her dad and my most awesome son, Greg.

I was thinking about all of the things I’m thankful for this holiday…

My new granddaughter, Ella; being together with both of my children at the same time; my best friend Su is home from the hospital after nearly three weeks; the weather has been warm; the wonderful meal we had at David and Paula’s; safe travel for myself, Bill and the rest of my family; good health; enough money to pay the bills and play a little; fuel for my heater.  I could go on but I have so much to be thankful for that it would take up way too much space.

Greg, Vanessa and Ella traveled to Maine for this holiday.  They stayed two nights at D&P’s, then spent Friday night with me.  We had a good time and really enjoyed watching Ella’s new “trick”, rolling over.  She loves to eat and opens her mouth wide, just like a baby bird.

They left before lunch on Saturday so Bill and I did some Black Friday shopping.  We were glad to see the parking lots were full but not overflowing and the stores we went to weren’t jammed.  It was a good holiday weekend; time spent with family and time together.

On a sewing note…I finished a small gift bag for my MQResource Secret Sister.

Other than that, I haven’t had any time to sit at home and sew.  I need several uninterrupted hours to work on the background of the butterfly wallhanging if I expect to get it finished by Christmas (it was started for last Christmas).

Ahhhh, vacation. We spent the week at a rental camp on Pekwaquet Pond in Brownfield, Maine. It’s nothing special, just a small 2 bedroom camp that we have been renting for the past 25 years. The kids pitch tents in the yard and Bill and I sleep inside. The pond is quite small which was always perfect when the kids were small because we could see them wherever they paddled.

We gave the week a B rating. The weather wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t terrible and we had the Olympics to watch at night or when the weather wasn’t the best. There were a couple of partly sunny days and three beautiful days. The other two were cloudy with some rain. We took a trip into North Conway on the yucky day and did a little outlet shopping.

Greg, Vanessa and Ella came to visit on Saturday. Greg managed to fit most of the things he remembers from camp into a short four hour stay…canoeing, badminton, fishing and swimming. Ella had her first “dip” in the pond. She got her feet wet but she didn’t care for it very much. I had to admit, when I put my feet in the water, it was cold!

Scott and Trevor cam for the weekend. The slept overnight in the tent and they both appeared to enjoy themselves. Trevor and Papa Bill did a little fishing…